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Celebrate July 4th with adorable Kodu fireworks

by Dustin Burg { Jul 4th 2009 at 10:00AM }

Today is the day of independence for Joystiq readers in the United States, which also means it's a day full of aerial explosions of light. You know, fireworks. For those not lucky enough to be in an area where one can witness this colorful spectacle, we figured we'd bring the explosive excitement to the internet, for all to share, with the help of the recently released Community Game, Kodu.

Enjoy the show and have a boom-tastic July 4th!

Video Tour: Kodu, Microsoft's DIY game builder

by Richard Mitchell { Jul 2nd 2009 at 5:30PM }

Microsoft released its Kodu Game Lab yesterday, giving gamers everywhere the opportunity to create their very own games. Just for you, we snapped up the tool and set to work creating the Next BIg Thing in video gaming. Well, either that or we created a dinky little 2D shooter. Still, it's hard not to feel some pride after creating a real, honest-to-goodness, functioning game. And we did it all without laying a finger on a standard keyboard.

Check out our video tour and see what created.

Add the trial version of Kodu Game Lab to your Xbox 360 download queue

PSA: Kodu Game Lab is now live

by Justin McElroy { Jul 1st 2009 at 12:40PM }

Just a quick reminder from your friends at Joystiq, if you wanted to try your hand at the totally cool visual game programming of Kodu Game Lab, the title is now available on the Xbox Live Marketplace (though you'll have to navigate over to the Community Games section to find it).

For just 400 MS points ($5) you can build your very own game from the ground up, all the while being reminded that no matter how hard you work at it, Sparrow still owns you. If you manage to make anything cool (though admittedly never as cool as what Sparrow makes) let us know in the comments below.

Clover developer disappointed by poor sales

by Xav de Matos { Jun 24th 2009 at 4:00PM }

Developer Binary Tweed has admitted sales of its first Xbox Live Community title Clover have not met expectations. Speaking with Digital Spy, Binary Tweed community managing director Daniel Jones said his team "definitely won't recoup costs" from Microsoft's indie games service alone.

Despite strong critical reception for the title, Jones says the Xbox Live Community Games market -- being re-branded 'Indie Games' in July -- is "prohibitively small to be financially viable." According to Jones, Binary Tweed may only use the Community Games market as an "an arena for proving concepts" in the future.

While Clover has failed to capture much attention from gamers, Jones says having a salable product to showcase to publishers (rather than a demo) has helped open doors for the team's future. "Although I can't talk about specifics at the moment, Clover's critical acclaim has opened doors to Binary Tweed." Jones recommends Clover fans keep an eye on the developer's official site for news in the coming weeks. We recommend you stop playing with that XBLCG Fart app and check out Clover.

Gallery: Clover

Kodu gets creative on Xbox 360 June 30 [update]

by David Hinkle { Jun 24th 2009 at 2:30PM }

Update: Microsoft got back to us with the following: "We are going through the same peer-review process that every other developer has to go through, so there isn't any way to determine when the game will actually post, but we hope that it will be somewhere near or on June 30." So, everyone is trying their best to make sure Kodu makes the June 30 release, but don't consider that date chiseled in stone.

When the official Kodu blog mentioned that the title would be available this month, it apparently wasn't lying. Xboxic is reporting the game will be available for download on the last day of this month, June 30, for a reasonable 400

. Oh, and if you're scratching your head due to Microsoft's penchant for Humpday releases, remember this is an Xbox 360 ~~Community Game~~ Indie Game, and not an Arcade release.

For clarification's sake, we've put in word to Microsoft to confirm and will be sure to get back to you with what we find.

Clover finally hits XBL Community Games

by Jem Alexander { May 8th 2009 at 8:00PM }

Clover, Binary Tweed's watercolor masterpiece heavily inspired by the old Dizzy games of yesteryear, is now available to purchase from the Community Games section of Xbox Live. Though it's a little later than anticipated, the game is now finally available in both the US and Europe for 400

. A fair price, despite the stigma that's currently attached to the Community Games label. Not convinced? That's what the demo is for. Alternatively, you can check out the gallery below for more stylish, watecolor screenshots.

Gallery: Clover

Clover delayed by approval process (but releases new trailer)

by Richard Mitchell { Apr 30th 2009 at 3:30PM }

Clover developer Binary Tweed has posted an update on the status of the upcoming Community Game. Unfortunately, the game has been delayed for at least another week thanks to a rule in the approval process. The game was submitted for peer review recently, when a small bug was discovered. The bug was quickly fixed by Binary Tweed, but all Community Games are required to wait seven days between peer review submissions. The game will be submitted again this Sunday.

To make the wait a tiny bit more bearable, enjoy a new trailer of the game after the break.

Continued →

Finally: The Xbox Live Community Game Index

by Richard Mitchell { Apr 22nd 2009 at 2:00PM }

File this one under "Absolutely Fantastic Idea." An enterprising netizen by the name of Nick Gravelyn has created the Xbox Live Community Game Index (or XBLCG if you prefer). Seemingly answering our prayers, the site organizes Xbox Live Community Games, details important information for each one and, more importantly, allows users to rate each game. That's right, it took a community developer to implement functionality that Microsoft should have had on day one.

Want to find out which games are worth a look? Easy, just filter your results by games that are rated 70% or better. If you'd like to rate games yourself, all you need to do is sign in with your Windows Live ID -- we take personal pride having lowered Rocket Fart from 15% to 14%. You can also filter results by release date, features and even price. Welcome to the internet, XBLCG, we're sure this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

[Via Binary Tweed]

No, seriously, Clover is coming soon

by Jason Dobson { Apr 19th 2009 at 11:00PM }

If you've been holding it in for fear of missing out on Clover's Community Game debut, do us all a favor and take a bathroom break. The artsy platformer's imminent debut was held back recently by what Binary Tweed's Daniel "Deejay" Jones describes as a pair of "performance bugs," one of which saw load times crawl along for nearly a minute and a half. Oy vey!

According to the managing director, the issues have since been fixed, and the team is currently making some "last-minute emergency sound fixes" in the road up to the game's "peer review" on Wednesday. Jones recently told Joystiq of his high hopes for the game, and assuming all goes well players will able to judge for themselves when Clover puzzles the marketplace this Friday.

Joystiq interview: Halfbrick Studios

by David Hinkle { Apr 14th 2009 at 3:21PM }

We recently fired off some long-distance questions to Halfbrick Studios, an independent developer located in Brisbane, Australia, about itself and its projects in the pipeline for Xbox 360 -- more specifically, for XBLA and XNA Community Games. Lead artist Matthew Knight generously accepted our assault and blasted back with his answers.

Warning: Stepping into our friendly exchange just might hit you like a ton of (half) bricks ...

Continued →

Binary Tweed: Clover release imminent

by Richard Mitchell { Apr 14th 2009 at 12:30PM }

Binary Tweed has announced that its upcoming puzzle platformer, Clover, could arrive on the Xbox 360 Community Games service very soon. Managing director Daniel "Deejay" Jones notes that the game will hopefully be submitted to peer review over the weekend, meaning it could be available on Xbox Live "as early as next week."

Clover garnered some publicity recently when it ran over Microsoft's 150MB size limit for Community Games, forcing the developer to remove features like an unlockable art gallery. In an interview with Joystiq, Jones stated that he hoped Clover would help convince people that there are worthwhile games on the Community Games service. We suspect he's never heard of Rocket Fart.

Gallery: Clover

The Guide: Community Organizing

by Richard Mitchell { Apr 2nd 2009 at 6:45PM }

Welcome to The Guide, an editorial feature in which former Xbox 360 Fanboy lead Richard Mitchell looks at issues important to Xbox fans. The opinions expressed here belong to the author and don't necessarily reflect those of Joystiq, Weblogs Inc. or its affiliates.

The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai came out this week. It's a very good action game and I'm playing it as much as I can. Over the last year and a half or so, I've had the opportunity to talk with Dishwasher's creator, James Silva. You may remember that Microsoft devoted a hefty chunk of last year's GDC keynote to Silva, touting the fact that he created Dishwasher entirely on his own using XNA. Microsoft used The Dishwasher as an example of what could be accomplished with XNA and, by extension, Community Games. Thus far, we haven't really heard that much about Community Games -- apart from less than impressive sales.

Playing Dishwasher, I started to wonder why. And then I found Rocket Fart.

Continued →

The brighter side of XNA sales

by Justin McElroy { Apr 1st 2009 at 8:50AM }

We brought you a lot of doom and gloom on the day that XNA Community Sales numbers were initially released, but some more positive accounts have arrived in our inbox, and we thought we'd share them. For instance, we got a note from Zoomaroom developer Four Bros., which said that its game had nabbed 4,700 trial downloads and around 400 purchases, good for a 8.46% conversion rate.

Adam Holmes, the man behind Ocean Scenes, was pleased with his 2629 sales, though they came from around 48,000 trials. And, finally, there was Blue Rose Games of Dr. Popper fame, which wrote it sold 2,200 copies of its game at a 12 percent conversation rate, and that it was "happy" with how the game had done.

Things are looking up for some of you out there, and we're glad to hear it. Of course, it looks like there are still plenty of ways to improve Microsoft's service and pave the way to those XNA riches.

Pick some fresh Clover screenshots

by Richard Mitchell { Mar 30th 2009 at 2:00PM }

click to enlarge

Binary Tweed has released some brand new screenshots for its upcoming Community Game, Clover. The new screens feature a redesigned version of lead character Sam, who was altered as a result of community feedback. Also featured in the screenshots is a new, dynamic sky-blending system. According to the Clover website, this system assures that the "player's view of the game world is constantly changing." Regardless of what that means, we're digging the watercolors-meet-South-Park visual style of the game. Check out the screens in the gallery below.

Gallery: Clover (3/30/2009)

PSA: You're doing it wrong, community game teaches foreplay [Update]

by Xav de Matos { Mar 26th 2009 at 4:45PM }

Update: Community game, Break One Out, has been pulled from the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Ladies and gentlemen, we're doing it wrong. After years of thinking we'd figured out every trick available from books and television, video games have revealed that the easiest method to get someone naked is by playing an Arkanoid clone over their (already naked) body.

How did we discover the answer to one of the world's greatest mysteries? The Xbox Community Game, Break One Out (yeah, that's the name) taught us, of course! The game features Kitty -- we're sure that's her real name -- covered with blocks that must be destroyed by sending balls flying toward her. In hindsight, we probably could have put that in a less "double entendre" kind of way ...

Even though the game doesn't feature any real nudity (naughty bits are covered up by black bars) it's surprising Microsoft wouldn't pull the content for fear of damaging its family friendly image. Thankfully, all Community Games are considered unrated content, which means the game isn't accessible when any of the Xbox 360 Family Settings are adjusted.

Here's the real PSA. Don't buy this game, folks. Not because it's a bad game (and it is), not because it's sad (and oh boy, is it) but because it's 200

($2.50) ... and the sequel will probably include co-op.